Pipeline and Utility Easements in Morton County, North Dakota

Before the protests: how DAPL easements were actually negotiated with Morton County landowners

Starting in 2014, Dakota Access LLC and its land-acquisition contractor, Contract Land Staff LLC, approached landowners along the pipeline's planned route with a standard easement offer: $180 per rod (a rod equals 16.5 feet) of pipeline easement, plus a 20 percent signing bonus for landowners who signed within 30 days -- a total of $216 per rod for early signers. More than 500 privately-owned parcels statewide needed to be crossed for the project to proceed. Where a landowner didn't agree to terms, Dakota Access moved to condemnation: the company filed 23 condemnation suits against 140 individuals, banks, and even a coal mine, with most of those suits concentrated in Williams, Mountrail, McKenzie, Dunn, Mercer, and Morton counties.

Twenty-one Morton County landowners, along with one partnership, later filed their own lawsuit against Dakota Access and Contract Land Staff, alleging they were coerced into signing easement agreements and that the compensation they ultimately received was as much as nine times lower than what other landowners elsewhere along the route received for comparable easements. Their claims invoked North Dakota's unfair-tactics statute -- a law enacted in the 1970s specifically to protect landowners from public-utility companies using unfair pressure tactics during easement acquisition, well before DAPL existed.

What this documented history means for evaluating an easement on Morton County land today

This history matters for three practical reasons. First, get the actual, original recorded easement instrument for any Morton County parcel with a pipeline or similar utility easement on it -- not a summary -- since the documented $180-to-$216-per-rod range from early, cooperative signers and the far lower figures alleged by the 21 landowners who sued show that compensation varied significantly parcel-to-parcel along the very same pipeline route, even within the same county. Second, ask directly whether a specific easement was negotiated voluntarily or resulted from a condemnation proceeding, since that history affects what remedies, if any, a current owner might still have, and whether any related litigation remains open.

Third, know that North Dakota's unfair-tactics statute exists specifically for situations like this one -- so a Morton County landowner currently being approached by any pipeline, transmission, or utility company for a new easement has a specific, decades-old state-law protection worth discussing with an attorney before signing, not just a general sense that 'the offer seems low.' This private-landowner easement history is separate from, and predates, the Army Corps of Engineers' own 2026 Lake Oahe easement decision covered on the county hub -- a landowner's compensation for crossing their private parcel and the Corps' federal authorization for the pipeline to cross the riverbed are two distinct legal instruments, negotiated with different parties under different legal frameworks.

Where to get parcel-specific answers

• Request the actual recorded easement document for any Morton County parcel from the Morton County Recorder's Office -- not a secondhand summary -- to see the specific per-rod or lump-sum compensation, easement width, and any restoration or access obligations actually recorded against the title.
• Ask whether a specific parcel's pipeline easement was reached through a negotiated agreement or a condemnation proceeding, since court records for a specific parcel (if condemned) are a matter of public record and can reveal the compensation a court ultimately set.
• If currently negotiating a new easement with any utility or pipeline company, ask an attorney specifically about North Dakota's unfair-tactics statute and whether the offer and negotiation process comply with it.
• Don't assume a nearby or same-project parcel's compensation figure applies to yours -- the documented range here (from $216/rod for early signers to compensation the 21 landowners alleged was up to nine times lower) shows real, parcel-by-parcel variation on the very same pipeline.
• For any easement dispute or negotiation, involve a real estate attorney experienced in North Dakota pipeline and utility easements rather than relying on the pipeline company's own summary of standard terms.